computer hardware

[royboy]

  hello   i wish to  build  a  new computer  ,this is my first attempt ,   can any member  give me  any help. where things go  , I am open to all  ideas  and  advise    I am thinking of  AMD , instead of Intel..
thank you royboy..

[SensoVision]

hi Royboy! I've got my first PC in 1995 I think and it was the only PC which wasn't assembled by me, I didn't like they way it was done and decide to assemble everything myself from than.
And except one time I've always used AMD processors because in total they give better performance/price ratio than Intel ones. Although motherboards on AMD processors could cost a bit more(at least it was before era of AMD 64) you still pay less than you would for Intel+MB.
Right now I'm having AMD 64 Athlon 3000+ and Asus K8V-X SE motherboard, I should tell that this one was really cheap. I've also saved a lot of money staying with Socket 754 instead of going 939 which of course a bit risky since 754 probably will die out with time.
Also I would suggest you carefully choosing your motherboard and not go for noname brands even if they have really good price, as quality of motherboard influence on the stability of the system much more than CPU... I've tried a lot of brands myself and got bad experience with: AOpen, Albatron and Soltek. Actually Soltek was my favourite, although I've got one motherboard with bugs in PCI bus and another die after I've tried to flash new firmware to it, right after this I decide to try Asus which cost a bit more than other brands here. With ASUS I had no bug issues as for this moment, my previous motherboard on Socket A has dead USB port but I assume that I've did it myself by plugging USB ionizer into it, so this wasn't fault of Asus IMHO.
Also if you're going to build powerfull PC be sure to get yourself good PSU unit as many PCs have troubles because of it... I'm currently using Seasonic S12 model, it's most quiet power supply I've ever seen and I wouldn't change it for anything I guess.
You also need to choose good tower with proper airflow(intake on the front side which is missed on some towers).
I'm a bit low on time now so can't post more tips, but if you have any questions I'm gladly answer to them when I'm back.
Would be glad to help you best way I can

[Andy]

My advice is to buy parts from a local "geek" backstreet computer store if you are making a complete system. Very often the parts I have bought don't work (and people I know), so you scratch your head, go to forums looking for answers etc. but half the time it is duff hardware. Recently I had a duff hard disk and in the past I have bought non-working graphics cards and motherboards. But I always find the local store is happy to test the system you made and replace the duff parts free of charge.

The motherboards and chips come with detailed instruction booklets which tell you what to do. The main thing is to understand the instructions, don't force things into place and be gentle with tools so you don't slip, drop things, scratch the copper tracks or damage the delicate parts. Also be aware of static so keep parts in the anti-static bags until you need them and keep away from carpets and plastic surfaces. Touching radiators or sink taps helps to discharge yourself.

Make sure you keep cables out of the way of the motherboard parts to help with cooling airflow too. Use tie-wraps to keep the cable looms out of the way in spare drive bays but give the hard disk breathing space since this runs hot too.

The bare minimum you need to check the system is basically working is the motherboard, cpu, memory, power supply and the connections from the on/off button and speaker. If the speaker beeps more than once, you generally have a problem. If the fans don't keep spinning something is wrong with the power connections.

[royboy]

Thank you   Sensovision  /Andy.  your  advise  is greatly  welcome  , and will be noted  ..when  the task of building  a computer commences  ..

[Andy]

Good luck. Hope you have fun and everything goes smoothly 

[SensoVision]

wish you luck as well!
and if you're not sure about particular equipment feel free to ask here, someone maybe already used same model...

[CoastPC]

Sorry to be a stick in the mud,
        I suggest you go to a local computer shop, tell them what you want to do( programs/games you want to run etc, and get them to build you (what we call) a 'box'. Just the tower with internal parts pre-installed.
   You will have a working computer, (all the hardware bugs sorted out) for just a few dollars more.
    You can then buy a monitor, keyboard mouse etc, and be up and running in a very short time.
  Chris, Why you say this??? Glad you asked 

   1. It can be very difficult putting a computer together for a newbie. ( there is a lot to learn, and a lot to loose mucking it up.)

   2. Can you be sure you will put it together right. ( Many callouts are due to cables being put on the wrong way.) If you accidently blow a part, putting it together, its on you.

   3. Can you be sure your buying the right parts? ( Many people buy wrong size/speed ram)
       From experience, some parts just wont work with others. Some suppliers wont take parts back that have been opened. Dont know about the rest of the world but here, in OZ, they will charge you to test a part, you think is not working. If its found to be faulty, the part is replaced and the fee waived, however, if its found to be ok, you will be charged.
   
   4. If you buy parts and put them together yourself, you still have to buy an Operating system. ( Windows etc.) Its usually cheaper for the supplier to supply the OS then for you to go buy one from the shops.
   
   I too, wish you well, if you decide to build. Try to have a compentant mate with you, helping you, if you can.

  Chris

[SensoVision]

Actually Chris provide some good points so I wasn't even sure to argue with him or not but finally decide to post about my experience and let you decide.
My first computer was assembled for me because I never dealt with PCs myself, but we have asked to put into it most reliable parts, but later when I've start understanding what all components except CDROM and processor was cheapest noname... once I've manage to replace RAM and motherboard with something better my PC finally start to work reliable and I've got what I've paid for.
Also when I was working in UAE I was buying myself PC and few other folks from crew asked me to help them as well as I had experience and knew what to buy, they gave me money and asked to buy best possible configuration in the given limit. in total I've bought 3 PCs. Folks in the shop start to convince me that it's better to let them assemble all PCs as they would do it more professionally and so on, since our stay in Dubai was limited and I wish to walk on the city I agreed to assemble computers except mine.
In the evening I've come for computers, one was already packaged and another was in the process of installing OS, so once it was finished I've packaged it all and send to our vessel.
When we come there I've start assembling my box and after a while it was ready, although I've keep experienced halt and other strange problems from time to time. I should say that during assembling I've spot that they put some unknown memory brand to me(same brands was in other PCs as I've find out later). Same day we have found that one PC doesn't boot sometimes and can't find hard disk...  I was very angry on myself and folks who assembled this as next time we would be in Dubai only after week...
But once our ship got into Dubai I've ride to this shop to figure out what has happened to RAM I've ordered, they told me that it wasn't available and put other but gladly agreed to replace it to other brand(don't remember which one) except one piece(as they didn't have more but promised to get it to next day), I've also replaced all IDE cables as they all seems to be faulty.
After I've exchanged them things become better and there was no more problems with finding hard drive, but problems with hangups was solved only for two PCs except mine.
To make long story short, I've tried about 4 brands of RAM on my motherboard before got one which wasn't conflicting with each other, I think that it was Kingston.

So basically I've wrote this story to tell that you shouldn't blindly trust to some shop as their primary aim is to make money and some people simply like to make them any way they can.
My suggestion would be to find a friend who have assembled PCs in the past, advice with him about which shop is good and buy everything there and agree on warranty and other things, this way you can exchange some component if it doesn't work without major problem and probably get a discount.
As for OS, if you spend time on PC not solely for games maybe it's worth to save on it and get yourself Linux? 

[royboy]

Agian I  must thank you for the  information .  it has  been noted .  if and when ,I  decide  to  have  a crack at building  a
Computer  , it will be  built with  advise  on those points raised  by     members  .

[Andy]

I was hoping Chris would step in with some suggestions 

Chris makes some very good points about using a dealer to build you a "box" since this is the hard part.

It's along the lines I was suggesting that as a system builder especially a newbie, deal with a local shop rather than by mail order so you can get personal service to help you out when choosing the components and testing stuff you think is duff. It was the same deal in the UK, if it is your fault then expect to pay for the damage you caused which is fair enough.

I have alot of experience building systems so it is easy for me but I guess there is alot of mistakes a newbie can make, but like I said, the manuals are really good these days. So there is alot of satisfaction to be had from saying "I made it myself". But to cut out the tricky bits of fixing the motherboard in the system unit and mounting the CPU and heatsink correctly, look to the dealer to do this bit. One of my friends had his expensive AMD CPU melt almost instantly after power up due to a badly mounted heatsink. Maybe this can't happen now due to on-chip temperature sensing?

p.s. I found it hard to break a system by incorrect cable orientation. I did some crazy things in the past such as fitting hard drive cables round the wrong way shorting out the power supply for example. As long as the actual power cables are in the right way round it should be relatively immune from destruction I think. The hardest bit for me is usually getting the front panel cables for the system case fitted correctly. For some reason they use white wires for example for 0V where you would expect a black wire and it's always hard to see where to put them. But if you get them wrong nothing tends to get broken.

[jisern]

What about using a site like pricewatch for parts sourcing? There seems to be some good deals on there, just gotta watch out for the scammers.

-Jake Isern

[royboy]

Thanks  Jisern,  I will ccertainly have  alook at that  website  .. I have checked out stuff on OZtion, and e/bay,  but its mostly stuff on auction  and the prices can go through the roof .

[jacobmorhani]

I would just try tigerdirect.com or the likes.  They have decent systems already built and ready-to-go and you can always customize it.

Jacob

[Matt999]

  It you haven't done so already, It might be a valueable experience before you get started, to find an old beater computer that works and take it completely apart and put it back together and get it working again. When you take it apart take notice of how it came apart. Notice how securely plugs are in place, the colored line on one side of the cables, which way does it face? etc.
   If you don't have a grounding strap to avoid static electricity discharge, a good practice is to always touch the case before handling any electrical components inside the case.

[royboy]

thank you  will take note of comments   ..